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Monday, January 02, 2012

Ga. 9 to get $3.5 million upgrade through heart of north Fulton.

A $3.5 million plan to upgrade traffic signals along Ga. 9 could spell relief for thousands of drivers frustrated by sluggish stop-and-go commutes through north Fulton County.

Traffic engineers in Alpharetta, Roswell and Sandy Springs won't promise the moon, but they say the plan, set to begin early next year, could cut travel times and provide a more reliable commute along the route, which parallels the heavily traveled Ga. 400.

The project calls for signals fed by a series of roadway sensors that can adjust their timing immediately to accommodate high-volume traffic. Construction is fully funded through the Federal Highway Administration and is being administered through the Georgia DOT. The cities paid a total of $500,000 in design costs, each responsible for the share of road in their jurisdiction.

"I think this is a very good system," said Alpharetta resident Don Nahser who drives Ga. 9 frequently. "Economically speaking, it's a great advantage because it saves gas and time. It should work fine if drivers obey the speed limits."Many of the signals along the 18-mile stretch from the Forsyth County line south to Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs are already connected on a timing system to help coordinate traffic flow, said Eric Graves, city traffic engineer for Alpharetta.

"This project is going to take care of some of the gaps in that system ," Graves said. New sensors will then be able to feed traffic information instantly to the system and allow heavier volumes more time through signals, he said.